Probing species’ information initially obtained with citizen science: implications for ecological management

Abstract

Due to the natural engagements of citizen scientists, they have the advantage of species encounters, thus leveraging their significance in biodiversity studies. When a citizen scientist reports a suspected new species, an investigation may first require studies on taxonomy and biological analysis. There are cases, however, when their reports pertain to already known species that may still need investigations (species’ occurrence and distributions), considering different ecological viewpoints. With this premise, we conducted a field survey (station-based visual data collection) to probe the extent of the distribution of two species described with citizen science engagements. We also explored the species-associated cultural practices in the community. Our results reveal the presence of the two species with distributions varying in spatiotemporal contexts, validating the contribution of citizen science to the distribution record. With ecological management perspectives, we provide the following notions: conservation plans for the “rare” species and eradication programs for the invasive species on the island.